Secret
He owned the students.
"Daki! Nice party on Sat, man!"
"Yeah! Throw another one soon!!"
An icy smirk gracing his lips, he casually waved a greeting back to a fellow scholar, and continued on his way, strolling down the hallway, heading for his locker. It was lunchtime, and he had lost his appetite when spying his pursuit with her best friend again, the two sitting together to dine; blast it all, when would that lovely auburn-haired creature ever glance in his direction? He was just as good a candidate, if not far better, than his rival, the lousy boy that trailed alongside her, practically glued to her hip and unwillingly to step away. All the while during his walk, catcalls and pleased whoops reached his ears, stretching a grin on his expression, boosting his ego and confidence as slowed when nearing his destination, winking at a passing female. Accompanied by a couple of her friends, she giggled and shooed her companions away, then bounced over to where he was leaning against the wall, flashing him a bright smile.
She twirled a lock of her dark red hair around her finger girlishly; the sunbeams reflected harsh glints off the heavy coating of sparkles over her eyelids, making Cronos blink and wince in reflex. "So, like, that party you had, teehee, it was great!" The girl gazed at him adoringly.
"Thank you," he replied, nodding stiffly but allowed a sly smile to form over his expression.
"Ooh, can you believe that Kenji-kun danced with me?" she squealed excitedly, grabbing a hold of his forearm, "He's so cute! But how did you ever get him to go to your party?? I mean, no one's ever seen him outside of school!"
In a condescending tone of voice, the new student remarked, "I merely persistently invited him. It was his first party after all, and I must say he seemed to enjoy himself, being the center of attention with all those girls," his pupils turned hard and cold with jealousy, "Tell me, miss, is Ohgami considered… popular, in this school?"
Her head bobbed up and down enthusiastically in agreement. "Uh huh, he sure is! In gym class, he's really, like, good at basketball, so some of the jocks and other guys on the school team envy him so, like, they tease him sometimes! And some people have seen Kenji-kun running on the track after school too, and, like, they all say he's really fast, like, a real human racecar!"
She let out a little puffy sigh while Cronos refrained from snorting in bemusement at her overuse of the word "like". "All us girls love him, but he, like, only has eyes for that Uriko Nonomura chick. They both say that they're only, like, best friends, but she's the only girl that Kenji-kun would, like, get close to him, you know! And on top of that, a lot of guys at our school, like, totally have the hots for Uriko! This is, like, so not fair!"
The listener grinned slightly. "I admit I am smitten to her charms as well. However… I do not like seeing her so close with Ohgami. They are far too attached to claim that they are merely friends."
The girl gave him a blank look. "Um, okay, like, whatever… Anyway, I, like, saw him last dancing with Wendy Kesler before I, like, passed out from being so drunk," she giggled, "What happened after that? He didn't, like, sleep with her or anything, did he?"
"…" A dark gleam of realization glimmered in his emerald green eyes. A cruel smile betraying his lips, he leaned down close to his schoolmate's eager ears, and spoke smoothly, "Well, now. On the contrary…"
*****
"Alright, now, tell me again, why does this…event…always stir up so much excitement at school every year?"
The inquired stalled a moment, downing her bite of food with a swallow of soda before answering, sounding a bit exasperated, "Kenji, you asked me the same question when we were freshmen, then sophomores, now this year too; don't you remember what I've told you before?"
"That prom is 'a tradition, a blissful night of magic in which all high school graduates will retain in their memories for the rest of their lives'," he rolled his eyes, "But that doesn't really answer my question."
"You are so difficult sometimes," the girl shamelessly voiced her opinion, quirking a brow at her friend, who was sitting across from her in the corner-most long table of their school's lunchroom. "C'mon, admit, you wanna give prom night a try! You're a junior now, so you can go this year! Unless you'd rather sit there and keep on denying that you have interest in this annual event."
"I believe I'll stick with the latter choice." He replied with an evasive smirk. "It must be getting boring for you, this prom night. You've gone every year since you were a freshman, after all."
"No way, I'm not getting bored of prom night!" Uriko piped with a wide grin. "I love going, it's just that I don't love the guys that escort me, or some of the creeps at the prom. Did you know that last year, a senior jerk - thank goodness he's gone now - sneaked in some alcohol in a little flask, and was selling drinks to some of the other students?"
"How could I have knowledge of that? I wasn't present at the dance," her companion commented dryly, sliding his meal tray down the table and watching it fall off the edge directly into the trashcan at the end.
"Well, that's why I'm telling you," she poked him. "Anyway, he got caught right before they were going to announce the prom king and queen, and he was dragged out by a couple of standby policemen! There were rumors after that night about him being arrested for selling the alcohol."
"How impressively interesting." Kenji deliberately tried to sound monotonous and sarcastic. "That is the best story I have ever heard at this school. Thank you ever so much, for my life is now complete."
"Ooh!" She smacked his arm, which brought a grimace and a small smile to his face. "I'm just trying to show you my point, that prom night is really memorable, 'cause you never know what could happen there!"
At her words, the demons started harassing his mind just then, and the teenager groaned inwardly, holding his head as he shut his eyes, awaiting this new flashback to occur.
"Oh nooo… Stay… fun! Weekend… enjoy yourself…!"
It was brief, and he sighed in thankful relief of the short length, toning out whatever his friend was presently saying. Stupid confusing dialogs… What does it all mean, what overall big pictures does it form when all pieced together in the proper positions? A deep frown creased his eyebrows. Fours days have already passed since that night, and I still have no clue what happened on Saturday. Why must my memory fail me yet again, as it did two years ago after Busuzima toyed with and manipulated my mind?
He averted twin suspicious brown eyes at the Kenpo student. Uriko knows something aside from what she told me about my sickness… I can feel it… But she won't elaborate or delve into the topic further, why? A sigh drifted free from between his tightly shut lips. Perhaps I am just being paranoid, and in reality, there's nothing to worry about. But even as he considered that possibility, an inner instinct rejected that conjecture. There's more depth to this story than the eye only being able to view what lies upon the surface level…
"Um, hello? Kenji? You still listening…?" the feline zoanthrope's voice broke through his train of thought.
"Huh, wh-what?" he jolted out of his trance-like state, blinking in bewilderment and coughed, "S-Sorry, I was thinking about something."
"Well… sorry if my talking bores you so much," she noised crisply, trying to hide her annoyance. Shrugging aimlessly, she raised her soda can and drank the last of the bubbly liquid before tossing it into the trash, then readying her belongings to leave after a quick glance at the clock. "Lunch is almost over, Kenji. Come on, we gotta get going to class." She turned around to start heading for the lunchroom exits.
He took notice to her slight iciness, and arose from his seat, effortlessly jumping over the table, receiving awed sounds from watchful peers, and he landed next to his friend, quickly clamping a hold of her forearm to stop her procedure. Halted by his grip, Uriko pivoted to face him with some reluctance, spying the dark look of impatience of his eyes that contradicted his facial expression of striving to have her listen to his explanation. His hard gaze pierced her, a tiny flames flickering about the edges of his irises, and held the female teenager firmly in her standing position. "Look, I apologize for not being completely attentive to you, but I have my own pondering to endure, my own questions to scroll through my mind while I try to solve the quizzical mysteries. You know that I respect you; however, your previous topic of conversation merely held little of my interest at the time-"
The bell rang just then, and interrupted him while he was in the middle of talking, and he swore under his breath; his companion nodded in what he hoped to mean that she understood. Sighing, he released his hold and she gave him a half-smile, while the ghost of a sparkle lingered in her pupils, and then she squeezed his forearm briefly before walking off again. While other students loudly clattered their ways out of the lunchroom and toward the halls to proceed to their next classes, the ninja sat back down onto the table bench. Fully aware that he had less than five minutes to spare if he wanted to get to his next period on time, he inhaled sharply and absentmindedly ran a hand through his dark blue hair. His lips tightly pursed, he wondered, why was he bickering with his friend so much lately?
The two rarely were ever entangled in verbal arguments with each other prior to the strange, somehow eventful weekend that had just passed. In fact, the last memorable fight they had that Kenji vividly recalled was perhaps around a little over a year ago, after the mysterious beast crest sign had kept many zoanthropes bustling and worrying about the effects. The pair was separated for quite a while, since he'd gone off and left her behind, to assist his older brother organize the human and zoanthrope peace relations group. When the commotion died down, he tried to restore their bruised friendship, but she had refused to associate with him again, presumably fearing that he would run off again some other day. It wasn't until the young mole had vowed to protect her during a surprise attack by an enigmatic, metallic zoanthrope that she'd finally forgiven him.
So what was happening now? Why did Uriko seem so irritable lately? He couldn't put his finger on it, and in addition to her puzzling attitude, the sixteen-year-old male was also continuously baffled by the events that had occurred the night that remained foggy in his memory. A frown of annoyance marred his brows, and he finally arose from his seat when the one-minute warning bell echoed off the walls surrounding the quiet lunchroom. Slinging the strap of his backpack over his shoulder, the cobalt-haired student gritted his teeth and furtively allowed his enhanced skills to assist him in quickly darting through the hallway to his next class. At least there were still some forms of stability that he could rely on; though he wished his friend's assurance of their relationship maintaining would be one of them.
*****
"Ohgami's team won again. Figures."
The jade-haired teenager snorted at his fellow student as ascended into a standing position from the locker room bench, and pulled up his coarse yellow pants, zipping it securely. "You speak as if we were slaughtered by their performance."
"Daki, you don't think 18-32 is bad enough?" his team member countered in disbelief. "Especially in Coach Jillun's class, you know she grades us on how many games we win!"
"Hey, don't be ragging on Ohgami." Another guy a few yards away that was slamming his small gym locker shut retorted, shaking his head as if he thought the two conversing people were overreacting. "Our team lost against his too, but we aren't sore losers about it. And besides, it isn't just Ohgami carrying his whole team; two of the other players are on the school's varsity basketball, so what else do you expect from a good team like that?"
The new student's teammate grunted and waved the voice of reason off. "Hrmp, whatever man, stay outta our business, this doesn't concern you."
"You're very welcome," came the sarcastic reply as the male teenager smirked and took his leave.
"Conceited ruffian," Cronos growled lowly, then retrieved his schoolbag and prepared to exit the locker room as well.
On his way out, he bumped into another figure, and his head jerked up to identify whom it was; he was met with Kenji's solemn, nonchalant face. …What an unfortunate coincidence, he thought irritably.
"Excuse me," the ninja spoke calmly, stepping aside to continue proceeding out past the exit.
The jade-haired teenager quirked a brow in curiosity, then decided to trail after the boy, catching up to him and casually slung an arm around his shoulder. "Hey, Ohgami. How is it going?"
Taken by surprise, the mole zoanthrope lurched away from his grasp, relaxing only about a hair when he saw who was greeting him. "Oh. Hey, Cronos. I'm all right. And you?" He began to stride toward the quad, the center of all the connections to the numerous hallways leading around the school's vast area space.
"Slow down, Ohgami," Cronos protested, tailing the other student once again. "I am doing quite well. Impressive game your team played in basketball today; beat us for the second time since the activity started."
"Thank you," was the younger teenager's stiff reply as he hid a snort of carelessness and mingled into the crowds all piling into the hallway at once.
"Hey! Kenji-kun!" A female voice called out nearby him, and he inwardly groaned at the alias.
Nevertheless, he felt obligated to turn and look at the girl, who pushed her way to stand next to him, and he reluctantly voiced a reply, "Hello."
She giggled shrilly, and girlishly coiled a lock of her maroon-colored hair around her finger. "I can't believe that Wendy got you first!"
Kenji frowned, grateful that the crowd had thinned out considerably, so that there weren't many people lingering in the area to hear him ask gruffly, "What are you talking about?"
"I mean, me and my friends, like, always thought that Uriko would, like, be your first, you know! Now, all the girls are, like, gonna be soooo jealous of Wendy instead!" Her unbelievably high-pitched tone was scratching into his eardrums, and he quickly grew irritated of her constant giggling.
A thin sheen of icy coldness glazed over his eyes and registered along with his confusion. "Excuse me? What do you mean by, 'my first'?"
"Oh, come on! You don't have to, like, pretend you didn't do it!" She beamed him a toothpaste-commercial wide grin, and laid her palm on his forearm, trickling her fingers upon the short sleeves of his dark blue shirt.
"......" he firmly grasped her wrist, and removed her hand away from him. "I am not pretending. Now tell me, and be precisely clear, in what the hell you are talking about."
"Ohhh!" she gasped aloud, covering her mouth, which caused her next words to sound muffled, "This was supposed to kept a secret, huh! Oh my gosh, I didn't know!" She appeared flustered, as she was waving her hands before her face, looking like she was fanning herself.
"Secret? What is?!" He demanded, raising his volume a notch higher.
"Ohhh, now I hafta, like, go tell my girlfriends not to, like, spread it around!" The girl exclaimed shrilly, then whirled in a direction and dashed off before Kenji could question her further.
Secret? What the hell was that girl talking about?? He wondered as he scowled, really starting to despise the way that it seemed everyone knew something important, but they were all concealing their knowledge from him. A hand suddenly slapped his shoulder just then, and he jolted in surprise, turning his face to glance at the smirking face of the new student. The ninja couldn't help rolling his eyes, and shrugged off the contact as he strolled into the hallway, heading toward his following period, wanting to be left alone. Getting the hint, Cronos' grin stretched wider, and he tilted his nose toward the ceiling, sunlight gleaming off the spidery strands of his light green tress, and walked past his rival.
Unable to resist taking one last poke at him, he looked over his shoulder, and called back, "Hey, Ohgami! Do you not just hate it when it seems like everyone knows something about you that you have no conclusive idea about? I would absolutely detest if a dire secret was being kept from me; would you not feel the same way as well if you were presented with such a situation?" Leaving the mole zoanthrope gaping silently after his retreating figure, the jade-haired student laughed coolly, and continued on his way.
Angrily glaring at his back, a snarl bubbled deep in Kenji's throat as his eyes shot invisible daggers foreword, fiery ire emitting from his attitude as he stomped over to his next class. As he slid into his seat, surrounding students peered at him with unreadable grins and other expressions on their faces, and he merely scowled at them in reply. The teacher resumed control over the class, but he paid little attention to the lecture, and instead thought, I am tired of all these baffling questions and puzzles. I must find answers soon, or I fear that my anger will raise hell.